Awesome post @surpassinggoogle. I want to say I have learnt so much here in steemit. It has been really amazing.before I say what I have learnt, I want to use this opportunity to thank #Nigeria and #untalented for all their support towards my growth on steemit. Also  I want to thank you @surpassinggoogle for all your encouragement and support, you sure were of tremendous help during my first weeks here.

Okay, to what I have learnt here on steemit, I want to just give two.

- Getting more followers is useless
I have learnt that getting more followers by begging for followers is useless. 
People use steemfollower.com, they follow random people to get follow backs, they ask other to follow them but it is completely useless even if your followers increase. SHOCKED? Well because, on steemit, you don't need to build followers, but you need to build fans !!! Followers are the people who followed you when they liked a post of yours. They will follow and forget. You need those people who are crazy to read your posts, waiting for you to publish the next post, remembering to check your profile every now and then, who will resteem your posts, who want YOUR success, as much as you do.

- The good and bad of VOTE BEGGING 
Some people here would ask you to vote for vote, follow for follow and such other stuff. The good thing about it is that you can win contests which require you to collect votes. The bad thing about it is that you can increase the number of votes through this method, but CAN NOT increase the amount of dollars. Only minnows will support you by this method who don't have much Steem power and thus, they can't help you earn. Remember, if you deserve something, begging won't help you get it, because beggars only get beggary, not huge dollars. No one ever got rich from begging.
Produce quality content and you'll get genuine upvotes. Simple and short.